A former top official in the D.C. Department of Transportation accused the agency's director of
firing him because he exposed what he said were improper contracts between Fort
Myer Construction Co. and two firms hired to work on city road projects,
according to a lawsuit recently filed in U.S. District Court.

Stephen P. Amos, who worked as chief of staff for Emeka Moneme, also said then-General Counsel Peter Nickles did not offer to protect him and his subordinates
from retaliation for the disclosures.

Amos, who was hired last summer, claims that he was fired in January after he
tried to pressure D.C. officials to take action against two District companies,
Fort Myer and Peake Construction. Amos claims that the two firms
collaborated to qualify for funding preferences for "disadvantaged firms," even
though Peake was little more than a front for a third-party contractor that did
the work.

Nickles, who is now the city's interim attorney general, acknowledged that
Amos met with him late last year, but he said Amos failed to provide any
evidence to prove his allegations. Nickles said he urged Amos to meet with the
D.C. inspector general's office.

"It troubles me when I provide immediate access to my office and I refer the
man to the IG . . . and he meets with me" and does not provide evidence, Nickles
said. "Then he writes a complaint and tries to get attention."

"He was tasked with investigating corruption in D-DOT and then terminated for
talking about what had been discovered to Nickles and Moneme," Carter said.

The lawsuit, filed in March, claims that Fort Myer fraudulently qualified for
federal funds by subcontracting with Peake Construction, which then hired DEN
United General of Woodbridge to do the work.

In the suit, Amos described Peake as a "shell company with no vehicles,
equipment, business office or viable assets."

Chris Kerns, general counsel for Fort Myer, denied any wrongdoing and said
Peake is a legitimate company.

According to a letter obtained by The Washington Post, Peake signed an agreement with DEN United in
April 2007 to use its crews and equipment on a Foxhall Road construction
project.

A spokesman for Peake Construction said the company can provide documentation
to substantiate that it is in good standing as a disadvantaged business
enterprise (DBE) and that it was in compliance with the city's contract.

"This partnership agreement between DEN United was approved by D-DOT prior to
them starting work on Foxhall Road," said Andre Johnson, a spokesman for Peake. "There's nothing wrong with
a small DBE company renting construction equipment. We have certified payroll
documentation that shows everybody that worked on that project worked for Peake
Construction."

Amos claims the D-DOT officials ignored Fort Myer's actions because of past
relationships with D.C. officials. Amos claims that the agency's former
director, Dan Tangherlini, had been counseled by a compliance officer about
his relationship with Fort Myer.

"I think he refused to meet," Kerns said of Tangherlini. "He was always
careful not to do that."

Nickles, who said he was also speaking for Tangherlini, said the city is not
going to respond to "every wild allegation by anyone who got fired."

Nickles said he kept an e-mail from Amos in December. The e-mail is outlined
in the lawsuit.

In that e-mail, Amos said he wanted to summarize "for the record our
communications" regarding his allegations. In the Dec. 12 e-mail, obtained by
The Washington Post, Amos said he and Danette Walker-Mincey, the agency's chief
of the Integrity Compliance Unit, were concerned about handing over documents to
Nickles or the inspector general without being protected from retaliation.

In the e-mail, Amos said he faced an increasingly hostile work environment
after not following his superiors' orders to deal internally with the
accusations against the companies. After meeting with the inspector general's
office, Amos said, Moneme screamed that Amos had betrayed him, stripped him of
his responsibilities and later told him, "You're done," the lawsuit said.

Amos is suing to have his $134,500 salaried job reinstated, and for punitive
and compensatory damages.

Moneme and Walker-Mincey declined to comment on the suit because it deals
with personnel issues, said Karyn LeBlanc, a spokeswoman for D-DOT.

Officials from DEN United General could not be reached for comment.

In a memo to Amos, Francisco Edwin Gonzalez, equal opportunity specialist in
the transportation agency, said that Pessoa Construction, a disadvantaged
subcontractor working for Fort Myer, had contracted work to Anchor Construction,
which was not a disadvantaged firm. Fort Myer later acknowledged the mistake and
asked for a waiver because the work was near the new Nationals stadium and on a
tight deadline. Gonzalez had also visited Peake's work site and reported his
findings to Amos.

LeBlanc said Gonzalez could not comment on the suit because it deals with
personnel issues.

Officials from Pessoa and Anchor could not be reached for comment.

"We use Peake Construction and Pessoa Construction as subcontractors on a
variety of jobs, and they are legitimate contractors," said Kerns, the spokesman
for Fort Myer. "They've been in business a long time. The heads of their
organizations are legitimate and complete businessmen. That's why we use
them."

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